A Comparison of Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Portulaca oleraceae Leaf and Seeds

Background: Portulaca oleraceae is a widely utilized herb as nutrition and medicine. It is an important fragment of Chinese and Ayurveda medicines since centuries. Whole plant and seeds of P. oleraceae has been reported for a number of medicinally important phytoconstituents. Objective: A lot of research work is carried out on the whole plant regarding pharmacological activities including analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities, but as far as seed part is concerned, a little work is carried out. So a comparative study was designed to investigate the pain relieving and edema reducing properties of leaf versus seeds of P. oleracea. Methods: Extract was prepared by classical reported method. Analgesic activity was conducted by two different methods i.e. Hot plate and Writhing tests, while anti-inflammatory activity was conducted using Formalin test. Dunnett’s t-test was used to analyze the data. Results: The result indicated that seed extract inhibits inflammation to a greater extent than leaf extract. Regarding analgesic activity by both methods, leaf extract is proven to be more potent analgesic than seed extract in early phase while again seed extract is better analgesic in late phase. Conclusion: Comparative results show that Portulaca oleraceae seed extract possess persistent higher analgesic effect in high doses and significant anti-inflammatory activity than leaf extract. So further work can be carried out in combination of leaf and seed extract to obtain continuous activity in both early and late phases of analgesia.